Microsoft extends tight hardware control to W8

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Microsoft extends tight hardware control to W8

Details ARM-based version of its upcoming OS, emulating Windows Phone's rigid approach to device specs

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 13 February, 2012

READ MORE: OS | Reference Design | User Experience | Windows Phone

Microsoft has released details of the version of Windows 8 for ARM processors, its first non-Intel platform outside the mobile world. Called WOA (Windows on ARM), this is still under development but will debut at the same time as the x86 variant, sharing the same code base and, contrary to some reports, supporting the Windows desktop interface as well as the new Metro UI, which draws heavily on Windows Phone. In another echo of WP7, Microsoft is sticking with its controversial policy of setting rigid rules for the hardware features of supporting devices.

Despite commonalities in code and interface, in other ways WOA will be built differently from x86-based Windows. For instance, it will require that devices use a system-on-a-chip design. ARM licensees such as Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Nvidia are already working with Microsoft to optimize WOA on their SoCs, and their platforms will run the same Windows OS binaries as more conventional x86/Windows combinations.

However, the closeness in concept to Windows Phone also introduces one of the divisive elements of that platform, Microsoft's tight control of hardware designs. That is designed to avoid the fragmentation and variable quality seen in more open systems like Android, but can also reduce OEM's ability to differentiate. Screen-size restrictions in WP7 have prevented partners from making tablets, which are expected to be the key target market for WOA, but that decision is already raising issues of Windows Phone's ability to grow once its big sister hits the market.

By imposing strict hardware rules, Microsoft risks the disaffection of some device makers and the absence of really innovative designs. However, it achieves a unified code base and highly portable applications, always a key argument for Windows against Linux. Al Gillen of IDC told IDG News: "You have more standardization in the Windows market, which in turn creates a larger ecosystem, a larger, more addressable device market for software makers, and that's what Microsoft needs: a strong software ecosystem."

"WOA enables creativity in PC design that, in combination with newly architected features of the OS, will bring to customers new no-compromise experiences," wrote Steven Sinofsky, president of the Windows and Windows Live division, in a detailed corporate blog post describing WOA. "We created WOA to enable a new class of PC with unique capabilities and form factors, supported by a new set of partners that expand the ecosystem of which Windows is part."

Both forms of W8 will be able to run Metro apps from the Windows Store created using the WinRT APIs (application programming interfaces). However, WOA PCs will not run, emulate or port existing x86 desktop applications. They will support hardware accelerated HTML5 with Internet Explorer 10, and will include desktop versions of the upcoming Office 15 applications, designed for touch-based interfaces and reduced power consumption. Files will be compatible with those created in conventional Office.

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